I'll Stand By You
by Smokey Joe
Summary: When Ron shows up with a serious hole in his side, he and Hermione find out that they have more to worry about than just patching him up. A little angsty.


Okay~ this one is one that I did a LONG time ago and just found again. The song is "I'll Stand By You" by the Pretenders. The characters aren't mine and neither is the song. Review and tell me what you think. THANKS! XOXO ~SJ  
  
Ron and Hermoine "I'll Stand By You"  
  
"Ron! What happened?" Hermoine Granger gasped as her fiancé stumbled into her flat. There were tears in his eyes and he was holding his right side, pain clearly in his features. Another testament to his pain was that he was leaning heavily against the door frame and Hermoine knew that it had taken almost everything in him to get up the stairs to her. He did not answer her question but held on to her tightly when she slid his arm over her shoulders and moved to get him to her bedroom.  
"What happened?" The plea in her eyes and voice made him look down at her, noticing for the first time how small she seemed. He almost laughed at how strange that thought was, it was so misplaced in this time and situation.  
"We were ambushed. I told Harry we needed those reinforcements, he promised they'd be sent in. They got Neville. Oh, God, they got Neville." He whispered, repeating his last words over and over again. Hermoine closed her eyes for just a moment before she felt blood slide between her fingers. It served to pull her back to the present, and gently she lowered him onto her bed. The only thoughts running through her head were, oh, not Neville, why Neville? But there were no answers for her.  
  
*Oh, why you look so sad The tears are in your eyes Come on and come to me now  
  
And don't be ashamed to cry Let me see you through 'Cause I've seen the dark side too*  
  
"Where are you hurt, Ron?" Hermoine asked, knowing that she still had the power to save Ron.  
"My side, I fell on something when I." He trailed off, a new kind of horror filling his eyes.  
"What is it?" There was so much blood seeping through his robes that Hermoine was almost afraid to see the actual wound.  
"Harry. I left him there, 'Moine. I have to go back, I have to go back right now!" He attempted to get up but Hermoine pressed her hand to his shoulder.  
"Listen to me, Ron. Right now you are no use to anyone and all your going to do is bleed to death and then who will you be able to help. Now, sit down and don't move until I'm done with you!" She exclaimed desperately. He calmed for the moment and moved back on to the bed. He looked completely detached and Hermoine knew that she was going to have to worry about his emotional and mental state soon.  
"What about Harry. Tell me about it." Hermoine asked, already knowing that she was going with him if she couldn't convince him to stay here. She knew that there was a slight level of uncertainty there.  
  
*When the night falls on you You don't know what to do Nothing you confess Could make me love you less*  
  
"I don't know. He went outside and I didn't see him after that. I don't know where he went after that." Ron murmured. He was lost in his thoughts again. Hermoine sighed at the state of his side. There was a very large piece of metal sticking out from just below his rib cage and Hermoine prayed that there was no internal damage. Hermoine felt her heart constrict at his statement, it had just penetrated. She prayed that he would be okay for both Ginny and Ron. She knew that if anything happened to him Ginny might never recover. She and Harry were one of the greatest love stories to come out of Hogwarts. Ron, on the other hand, would never get through the loss of his best friend. Harry had brought Ron out of his little shell, not to mention that he and Harry had been acting like brothers for years. Returning to the task at hand, Hermoine took a breath to steady herself.  
"Ron, this is going to hurt." He nodded and braced himself as she wrapped her slender fingers around the sharp object. With one swift pull she removed it and pressed some gauze to the wound that had started gushing at rapid speed, trying to block Ron's screams out of her mind.  
"Sorry," she whispered softly grabbing her wand. She closed the wound in his side with a simple binding spell and let his robes fall back into place.  
"I've got to go back for Harry and Neville. I won't leave them there."  
"Ron, you need to get some rest. One of the other aurors will go back and get them." She insisted, pleading again.  
"Hermoine, I have to go back. Not only are they my friends they are the husbands of my sister and another of my friends. If not just for me then for Ginny and Catherine." He was playing on her sympathy and she knew it but she didn't care. He was right.  
"Then I'm going with you."  
  
*I'll stand by you I'll stand by you Won't let nobody hurt you I'll stand by you*  
  
"Harry?" Hermoine called spotting someone laying face down in the grass. She ran to his side and dropped down next to him. He had no pulse.  
"No! Damnit Harry! You're going to be a father! Fathers don't die!" She sobbed, more for Ginny that herself. She felt Ron come up behind her and tried to pull herself together enough to speak coherent thoughts.  
"'Moine, he's gone. The only thing that we can do now is take them back." He whispered, crouching down next to her.  
"Why, Ron? Why?" She asked him, heart broken.  
  
One Week Later  
"Neville Logbottom and Harry Potter were two excellent aurors. More than that, though, they were excellent friends. I could not have asked for better partners, schoolmates, or brothers. Everyone who met them had to love them. Neville, with his jovial attitude, and Harry with that warming smile that I'm sure you can picture. They were unbeatable when they played Quidditch together, and they loved their families more than anything else.  
"They were good men. They were better than I could ever hope to be and will be greatly missed." Ron spoke as he looked over the coffins of his two best friends.  
"They will be greatly missed." He repeated, more to himself than those gathered. Hermoine looked at her fiancé deeply concerned. He hadn't cried yet and she knew that he blamed himself. It was only a matter of time before he broke. It would be only a matter of time.  
  
Later in the Day  
"I thought that Ginny and Catherine held up well." Hermoine said as she locked the door to her flat behind her. Ron said nothing as he collapsed onto her couch, loosing the tie that was under his robes. Hermoine stood on the other side of the couch and looked down at him.  
"Would you like me to make you some tea?"  
"DAMNIT, HERMOINE!" HE screamed leaping to his feet. This was what she had been waiting for.  
"What, Ron?" She asked calmly, not moving.  
"I MADE THEM GO! WE SHOULD HAVE WAITED FOR REINFORCEMENTS BUT I MADE THEM GO IN!" He continued, screaming at the top of his lungs, anger laced in his words.  
  
*So, if you're mad get mad Don't hold it all inside Come on and talk to me now  
  
And hey What you got to hide I get angry too Well, I'm a lot like you*  
  
"Ron, they knew the dangers. You didn't MAKE them do anything." Hermoine cried, moving to face him. She looked into his eyes and felt tears rush to hers at the hopelessness and guilt reflected there.  
"Still, if it wasn't for me they'd still be alive. Neville's kids would have a father and Harry's would have a person instead of a legend. I robbed that child of the chance to know his father." He explained mournfully.  
"How many times was it because of you that they made it home?" Hermoine countered. Ron had no answer and moved to the door, leaving a distraught Hermoine behind with tears running down her cheeks.  
  
Hours later her phone rang and she somehow knew that it would be Ron.  
"Hermoine," he whispered choked with tears. "Hermoine, I don't know what to do. I don't know whether to kill myself or to just go on living. I can't take this. I-" he trailed off sobbing.  
"Ron, don't do anything. Just stay where you are and I'll come and get you." She told him, tears running down her cheeks again.  
"I'm at the Three Broomsticks."  
  
*When you're standing at the crosswords And don't know which path to choose Let me come along 'Cause even if you're wrong*  
  
"Hey, baby." Hermoine whispered, kissing Ron's head when she found him. His head was disheveled and his clothing was handing at odd angles.  
"What do I do?" He asked her, lost in his own hellish world of pain.  
"You keep going. You keep doing what you do. You never let the bad guys win." She replied. When he made no response she kept going, "They would have wanted you to keep going." He looked at her then and burst into tears.  
"Take me home," he begged as she was more than happy to comply.  
  
*I'll stand by you I'll stand by you Won't let nobody hurt you*  
  
"Just never leave me, 'Moine. Promise me that you will never leave me." He begged that night as she held him tightly.  
  
*I'll stand by you Take me into your darkest hour And I'll never desert you I'll stand by you  
  
And when the night falls on you, baby You're feeling all alone You won't be on your own*  
  
"I'd never even thought it." She replied as tears dusted her cheeks and she smoothed his hair in her attempts to soothe him.  
  
*I'll stand by you I'll stand by you Won't let nobody hurt you I'll stand by you Take me into your darkest hour And I'll never desert you.*  
  
One Year Later  
"How are you?" Hermoine asked.  
"I'm honestly okay. I can't change what happened to them but I can look after their families. They'd have done that for me." Ron replied and Hermoine kissed his head gently.  
"'Moine, thank you for sticking with me. Through everything you stayed with me. I love you." Ron whispered.  
"I love you too, Ron. I told you I'd never leave you. *I'll stand by you*." 


End file.
